Already the end of June...

Is it just me or is summer flying by? I feel like I've done so much here and yet so little. June classes are over and July classes start on Tuesday. It's going to be weird to celebrate the 4th of July here under the cold and cloud-filled sky. How I long for a sunny afternoon at the beach!


Last Saturday night Becca and I got a taste of Peruvian nightlife when we went out with Fiorella, Natali, and Cynthia. We got to this bar/live music joint at about 10:30 after Becca and I went to youth group at the church. It's called TributoBar and has pretty good atmosphere. It was pretty empty so we could chat. People really started filling in and then packing the place around 11:30-12. At 12:15ish a band started playing a bunch of covers. They were actually quite good. We enjoyed ourselves. One funny thing about Peruvian nightlife is the picture taking. Every 20 minutes or so someone with a badge would come over and ask if they could take a picture of your group. Then they give you a little business card with the website you can go to to view your picture. Here is an example:

After listening to the music for a bit we stopped over at this other restaurant/bar/club where we got our fill of really funny 80's music. There was a crazy strobe light that came on occasionally and it looked like everyone was moving in slow motion. Oh and how could I forget the bubbles. All in all it was interesting to see what Peruvian night life looks like, though I don't expect to go back or out like that again. Hopefully we can find a place to do some folk dancing though.

I went out with some of my students again on Wednesday night after their final exam for the month. No mollejitas this time, thankfully. We had chicken-egg sandwiches at a semi-fast food joint. It's been nice getting to know them better.

On a more spiritual note, I was thinking of an old Michael Card song this week. Sometimes I feel like I must be crazy to believe the Gospel, and yet I can't fight the conviction that it is true and there is nothing else. Friends of John and Heather (long term missionaries here) just lost their 2 year old son because he had so much brain damage from almost drowning in their bath tub. They had to take him off life-support and watch their baby die. When Heather asked her friend if she had lost faith because of the events, her friend said "how can I? what else is there?" I feel so blessed to be untouched by real tragedy, but so much pain exists in the world. I ask myself if it's all just a story that we want to believe. At the end of the day though, despite my doubt, I'm just praying that God will increase my faith. Here's the song. It's a great one.

God’s Own Fool by Michael Card

It seems I've imagined him all of my life

As the wisest of all of mankind.

But if God's holy wisdom is foolish to men,

He must have seemed out of his mind.

For even his family said he was mad,

And the priests said "A demon's to blame."

But God in the form of this angry young man

Could not have seemed perfectly sane.

CHORUS:

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise,

He played the fool, and he opened our eyes.

When we in our weakness believed we were strong,

He became helpless to show we were wrong.

And so we follow God's own fool;

For only the foolish can tell.

Believe the unbelievable;

Come be a fool as well.

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son,

For a mad-man who died for a dream.

And you'll have the faith the first followers had,

And you'll feel the weight of the beam.

So surrender the hunger to say you must know,

Have the courage to say "I believe."

For the power of paradox opens your eyes,

And blinds those who say they can see.

Another Saturday in Trujillo

I have become an expert shopper here in Trujillo. So much for "I should buy clothes before I go because I won't be able to buy stuff there." Last weekend I bought a bright yellow jacket (to keep warm in this especially chilly winter we're having), a really cute brown shirt with cool sleeves, and two long-sleeved T's to keep warm. Today Becca, Julie, and I ventured out again but this time we went with Fuerela, one of our Peruvian friends from Sociedad San Agustin (the Peruvian equivalent of RUF). I bought moccasins at the shoe market - picture an entire mall of teeny-tiny shoe shops all selling very similar wares- and some fun accessories at the Peruvian "Claire's" which is called "Do It". There is one really great store in Trujillo called TopyTop. The clothes are really cute and quite affordable to us (given every dollar = 3 soles). TopyTop is actually a supplier to Hollister and Abercrombie, but the clothes just don't have the brand printed across the front. I did see two shirts that actually said "Hollister" today.

I also found a taylor who makes quite fashionable clothes and said she can have them ready in 24 hours! It'll be an investment, but less of an investment here than in the states, so I think I might have a really cute suit made. Basically I get to design it, and find/draw some pictures and she'll make it happen for about $150 I think. I'm not sure if the fabric costs extra but I'll go back when I have a better idea of what I want. The thought of having my own designs made by someone else for me is really exciting.

Of course I do more here than just shop. My intermediate 3 students took their third quiz yesterday and I went out with 3 of them afterwards to get some food. At this point I had one of my first eat-to-be-polite experiences here in Peru. Usually the food is great, but at this perticular restaurant, all they serve is chicken colon broiled in its juices with a side of yuca. It was soo cruchy and chewy and all I could think about was that I was eating colon and I'll probably get some terrible parasite! Of course, Victor kept saying, "eat more Michelle, it's 'muy rico'." In any event, I had more than enough colon and ate lots of yuca. Good thing there was Coke to wash it all down.

I took my conversation class on a field trip yesterday. We walked down to an art exhibit in one of the old colonial houses, looked at the art, and talked a bit about the history of Trujillo. It's cool "teaching" adults because they can teach me all sorts of interesting things about Peru. The best thing about the walk was that one of my students who hardly speaks in class was very chatty with me on the 10 minute walk each way. Her English is actually quite good but I think she's embarrassed to speak in front the of the class. It was nice for us all to talk to each other in another environment too. I've really enjoyed getting to know them. I'm sad I only have 3 more days with them because in July I'm not teaching conversation anymore. I'll be teaching Basic 9, which I've heard is fun to teach because instead of working through a grammar book, the students read super abridged versions of The Little Princess and The Wizard of Oz, and then you talk about it and work on their writing skills. The students are in each level for a month, which works out to 18 classes per level. It goes Basic 1-10, Intermediate 1-10, and Advanced 1-5 I think. We also encourage everyone in Intermediate and Advanced to take conversation (which is just for practice; there's no grading or out of class work). Ideally, if the student works hard and sticks with the program, he or she can walk into SALI without knowing how to say "hello" and walk out 2 and a half years later totally fluent. The fact that every class above Basic 5 is taught by a native speaker is a real advantage. The other language institutes in the city don't have as many native speakers for teachers and much larger class sizes. We demand a lot of our students; if I was learning Spanish in the US I don't think I would be willing to devote an hour and a half every weekday evening or morning to Spanish classes, plus homework in the workbook every night, and a chapter test every Friday that includes a speaking test. The scholarship kids have to maintain an 80 to keep their scholarships. It's pretty rigorous.

I decided not to go to Chile and Argentina this summer at the end of my Cuzco trip. It would be really expensive and I'll probably be really tired after teaching in July and traveling around Peru for 5 or 6 days. Thus after all the other summer interns (except Chase) leave at the end of July, I'll probably head up to Cajamarca, a mountain town farther north. PeruMission was originally established there, and I can stay with Pastor Ramirez and his family probably. I hear it's beautiful and a good place to relax. Life is a bit slower there than in the city where I live now.
Last weekend we went to Chan Chan, some pre-Inca ruins, with a bunch of SALI students. It was a good time to get to know people better, though only one of my students actually came. Fuerela and Natalie were there though, so we hung out. Here's a picture of us. By the way, that day was the ONLY day in the month I've been here that I could wear a tank top. I embraced the sun- it's almost always overcast here.

I've been playing soccer most Tuesday and Thursday nights. It's better now because I know all the guys' names and they know me. It feels good to get some exercise! Not that we don't do a lot of walking around town, but after sitting in Gringolandia all day, I feel the urge to run around a bit. It's weird playing on concrete without any walls around the court. I played on concrete sometimes in Brazil and a lot in Spain, but this whole "no walls" thing makes the game a lot different. It's all about ball control and dribbling past people. We usually play 6 on 6. When the ball goes out, pretty much anybody can put it back in play- no throw in's necessary. Sometimes they roll it in, sometimes they toss it with one arm, sometimes they drop it at their own feet and start dribbling. There's no such thing as a push, trip, or offsides. Really there are no rules except that you can't shoot from behind a certain line. Once you except the fact that no rules apply (though sometimes they call hand-balls), it's actually quite freeing. I think I pulled my hamstring on Thursday but hopefully it'll feel better for Tuesday. What's great is that playing soccer with the guys (and a few girls too) gives us the opportunity to get to know them and invite them to youth group and church, which are right across the street. They all know Pastor Ricardo (he lives right near the soccer court) and his wife and sometimes they play with us. Sydney, Matt, and Joe always play too so I'm not the only gringo. It's a good time.

Okay well I should go do some grading. Now I better understand the life of a teacher! Thanks for all the prayers and sorry I haven't been so good at keeping in touch. My computer hasn't been working a lot and there's always so much going on! To Vista Hermosa....

my first homesick night and some amazing pictures

I would rank tonight as my first homesick night. Considering I've been here for close to a month, that's not too bad. I sat out on the top balcony looking at the hazy, yet lit up night sky for a while thinking of the recent 4th of July night sky that looked the same. Even though the sky was completely clouded over, they launched the fireworks anyway and the sky just turned completely green or completely red with each bang. It was a good 4th of July...

Since I'm feeling a bit melancholy, I will venture to say that rather than being "really busy" I am in fact "too busy." I feel the need to stop and isolate myself from the hustle and bustle of the corner of Larco Av. and Espana Av. where the sound of taxi horns never stops. Today I watched some young guys, probably about 17 years old though perhaps older, doing flips in front of the lanes of taxis during the red lights and then asking for tips. Yesterday it was a lady with flags. You know the economy isn't providing enough jobs when strong and flexible young men are doing gymnastics in the street for money (and in all the time I watched, no one actually gave them any so I doubt its very lucrative). Time is just flying by- it'll be August 31st before I know it. And while I'm a little homesick tonight, I don't actually want to leave. I'm really happy here- I just wish I had more hours in the day to do and see everything I'd like. I'd like to spend some time hanging out at the National University just attempting to talk to students. I told the microfinance guys I'd look for micro business training materials. I'm only teaching 2 classes a day now but I spend several hours a day planning for them. I'm trying to play soccer with some of the kids in the church neighborhood every Tuesday and Thursday (and when I say kids, I really mean young men mostly- ages ranging from 16-28 or so- and me and Sydney and a few other english teachers). Additionally there is something going on all the time around here. People are constantly walking to markets and the plaza. Monday I went to this huge market where they sell pretty much every vegetable, spice, herb, meat, etc. and some flowers. I bought a huge bouquet of flowers for 4 soles (about $1.30). In the states it probably would have cost at least $40. Oh that's another thing, we refer to the US as "the states" almost exclusively among the teachers and missionary families. Also, I've added "y'all" to my daily vocabulary- it couldn't be helped. Everyone is Southern.

Tonight we're going to Hops, a pretty contemporary microbrewery, for Jazz night. In fact, Wednesday night Jazz night at Hops is the only night and place you can hear the only live jazz band preform in the entire city of Trujillo. Live bands are not common around here. There are some cellists coming to the opera house to do a concert on Thursday but I think I'll play soccer. So much to do, so little time. I wish I had time to read!

We're planning our trip for the end of July/beginning of August. Right now it sounds like Cuzco and Macchu Pichu for the first few and then Santiago, Chile, and possibly Mendozza, Argentina, for the last few. It might get a lil pricey but I can't turn down an opportunity like this.

Oh so I never finished talking about my trip to Huaraz. On Saturday we drove up into the mountains through this ravine for 2.5 hours. When the road ended we got out of the vans and walked up another 45 minutes to reach the glacier. I'm out of shape and the thin air didn't help. Our climbing sight was at about 5,000 meters - pretty high up. I felt dizzy every time I stood up or sat down. It was so beautiful. The mountains were so majestic I couldn't believe I was observing that scenery in person. Climbing the ice was a real adreneline rush. I watched the other climbers before me so I had pretty good technique and it wasn't too difficult. It's a good thing the ice picks are strapped to your hands though because by the time you get to the top, your hands are just so tired.

The first picture is me and Matt, with our Israeli friends climbing in the background. Then you have a more distant view where you can see the glacier we were climbing on. Below I am hanging upside down from my rope after climbing. And then there is a lovely picture I took on the drive back to town. Okay, and now to Hops.

note to self: buy pink grapefruit soap from bath and body upon return

Well it appears I'm a slacker when it comes to updating this blog. It's just so much more fun to be out there living life in Peru than journaling about it after. I am currently sitting in a classroom watching my 4 students squirm a little as they take their first unit exam. I personally think it's pretty easy so I hope they do well (I did make it so I might be biased.) I'm really enjoying teaching. I teach a conversation class from 4:15 to 5:15 every day and a grammar class (Intermediate 3) from 5:45 to 7:10 every evening. I spend a big chunck of every morning and afternoon preparing for these classes. My students are mostly university students or recent graduates. One girl in my grammar class is still in high school. The test they are taking right now is mostly testing their use of "have to" to show obligation and "should/must" to give advice. In my conversation class today we talked about AIDS in Africa, whether its better to live in the mountains of Peru or on the coast, and then did some role playing for various situations. We also talked about cowboys in Texas. I told them I might invite Matt or Chase to come to our class since they're Texans and a rather amusing pair.

So last week I went to Huaraz, a bustling little town nestled in the Andes. We took a nine-hour bus ride during the night on a double-decker bus to get there. The bus was pretty comfortable. Even though I took lots of meds I still felt pretty sick when we arrived- though I never threw up the whole weekend even though we were winding here and there on these tiny, cliff-side roads. Eleven of us went together: 2 of the "old interns" and 9 of the new ones. It was a good group bonding experience in addition to the fact that I don't think I've ever in my entire life seen such beautiful, breathtaking scenery.

This was the view from my window at the hostel. Okay now the test is finished and my students invited me to go out to a bar with them so... I'll finish this later! Stay tuned.

crazy cabs and ancient ruins

hola from peru! I've been here almost a week and everyday has been a new adventure. If you check facebook you can see all the pictures i've taken so far. it's actually not safe to bring my camera around (you're just asking someone to rob you) so the pictures might be somewhat limited.

I arrived in Lima at about 11 p.m. monday night. I had met up with 6 other SALI interns at the atlanta airport so that made traveling more pleasant. I didn't get motion sickness too bad at all!! (unfortunately the medicine that made that possible made me really sick wednesday and thursday). we stayed at a hotel in lima (where they were selling a book about Chuck Norris) and took a tour of lima during the day Tuesday. We saw the major plazas, some museums of artifacts of pre-Incan civilization, and even the Love Park (which has a giant sculpture of a man and a woman embracing and kissing). Apparently every year on valentines day they have a contest there for the longest kiss; last year's winners went over two hours or something extraordinary like that. we also chilled at Larco Mar, a really fancy shopping plaza, where we ate at a really nice restaurant called Mangos and got our last starbucks for a long time. the only american chain in trujillo is radio shack.

tuesday night we took the short flight home to trujillo and moved into our lodgings. for about two weeks (one of which has now just about passed) ill be living with two other interns at the house of Amelia, a lady from the Larco church. We each have our own rooms with huge windows. They tell me my mattress is made of sawdust- which means that since the first time i slept in it there has been and will continue to be a large dent where i sleep. i'm used to a hard mattress tho so it hasn't bothered me too much. Amelia is so nice and makes us breakfast every morning.

Wednesday we got the tour of SALI and downtown trujillo. the major part of the city is encircled by Espana Av. which used to be the site of the wall around the city. SALI is on a major corner, the intersection of Larco, Pizarro, and Espana. To get to our house we go away from downtown down Larco, and to get to downtown we walk up Pizzaro. From where i now sit in the SALI intern room that one of the students named 'Gringolandia' I can hear the constant beeping of horns. The first time I rode in a taxi i feared for my life, actually more like the first 3 days. I've gotten more used to it now and understand that there is a method to their madness, tho this type of driving would never be acceptable in the US. there are very few lights or stop signs, its all about whoever has the most speed and who sticks the nose of their taxi out far enough to stop the flow of traffic. the taxis themselves are tiny and there are very few private cars. I spend an average of 7 soles a day on taxi rides (1 dollar roughly equals 3 soles).

wednesday night i started feeling really sick while we were out at the fanciest bar in trujillo, Hops. the drinking age is like 16 or something tho no one cares but peru mission has a rule that you can't drink if you're under 21 so i will be ordering lots of coca-colas at bars this summer. I continued feeling really sick (i'm pretty sure it was a side effect of the motion sickness medicine i took to get down here) thursday but went on with our activities anyway. we visited the 3 churches peru mission works with- 2 of which they planted. I went back out to Wichanzao, a barrio on the outskirts of greater trujillo and location of one of these churches, to observe a microcredit orientation meeting. i'll be heading back out there as soon as i finish this entry to meet with the same ladies again. right now we have 2 groups that are considering taking out loans. Charlie and Lawson have been working on this project for a long time now, tho charlie is going back to the states in a few weeks. John just arrived and will be working on this project too.

thursday night we had game night at one of the longterm missionaries' houses, the fergusons. Heather Ferguson actually let me borrow anna karenina which i had been reading at home. she said its one of her favorite books and we should discuss it when i finish. all the missionaries and interns were there and we had some great food. stepping into their house was like walking back into america. that's definitely the place to go if i get frustrated or start missing home.

yesterday morning, friday, we visted the Huaca de la Luna in Moche. It was so amazing to see how the adobe bricks have been so perfectly preserved since the early first millenium. The Moche were the dominant civilization in northern coastal peru from about 100 to 800 a.d. The temple we visited had been expanded 5 different times. they said that when a certain very high official/leader died they buried him in the temple and then built a new temple on top. Since they just covered the old walls with adobe, archeologists have been able to scrape away the newer mud to reveal perfectly preserved colored frescos. it's really amazing the entent to which the artwork remains in such good condition considering its age. of course all this is made possible by the fact that we're in the desert and it hardly ever rains. the city really can't handle it when it does; theres no drainage system and many houses and buildings have openings in their roofs.

after moche we went to a nice restaurant that serves very authentic peruvian food. i had tacu taca with lomo saltado romano (steak with peppers, onions, and french fries served on a platform of fried rice and beans) and ceviche (raw seafood "cooked" in the acid of lemon juice). Everything was really good except i didn't like the fried rice/bean stuff. Next time I'll just get the lomo saltado romano alone. Friday night we went to their RUF meeting and afterward I went with a few other interns to watch Pirates of the Carribbean 3. It cost me 7 soles. We got out pretty late and i saw trujillo like ive never seen it before: quiet with almost empty streets.

One thing i'm pretty excited about is having some clothes made. apparently it's pretty cheap to have a tailor sew clothes if you bring them fabric and say what you want. i've also been told that one of the pastors' wives likes to make skirts so I might ask her too.

today we can do whatever we like so that's a nice break from the hectic pace of the last week. if anyone wants to send me mail my address is:

100 Larco Av.
Trujillo, Peru
South America

Apparently there are no zip codes down here. I think i'm adjusting pretty well so far. we couldn't flush the toilet paper in brazil either so i've been doing alright with that. it's a pain that we can't drink the water (only bottled) or eat fresh food from street vendors because it looks so good! I am understanding a surprisingly large amount of spanish so that's encouraging. I'll be taking spanish lessons twice a week and meeting with a conversation partner another 2 days a week so hopefully that will help me improve. When I figure out how to post pictures i will but all the buttons on blogspot are now in spanish so it's making it more difficult to figure things out. All my pictures are on facebook anyway. To those who are, thanks for your prayers! Stay tuned for more adventures and musings...

"be still, and know that I am God" psalm 46:10

So I'm home now and feeling a bit at a loss. It was such a hectic semester with more work than I've ever done in any previous one, but now it's over. I already have a long list of all the things I need to do for Peru, but those things are easy and painless compared to all the research papers- so I guess it's happy summer to me. I feel like I'm forgetting something.

I went to boston on saturday to hang out with a bunch of swedish ladies to get my scholarship for study abroad. they really got me all excited about going and now i'm looking into swedish lessons for the fall. if you know anyone who gives swedish lessons or speaks swedish at uconn, let me know.

on a more spiritual note, i'm really looking forward to the atmosphere at SALI. I know being a Christian is not about "feeling" spiritual or pious, and it's a good thing because I don't. Still, I know I'm not depending on God like I should and desire to, and if I'm honest with myself, I'm really holding Him and His plans for me at arms length. I don't trust that He is good. I know my sinful heart, and I know I deserve wrath- so accepting His love is difficult. Why is it so hard for us to accept grace and mercy? Because they're free? I'm an earner and not being able to earn God's love is an alien concept to my nature. I really hope that this summer I will have some time to just be still, and know that He is God, and to just dwell in His free love and mercy.

I've been wondering about this for the last few days- why does everyone see themselves as victims? I think I'm a victim because so-and-so hurt me, meanwhile so-and-so thinks he's a victim because I hurt him. Our culture tells us to shift the blame, so it's not surprising that we view conflict this way, but how will we ever get over it if we're both harboring bitterness?

a little procrastination

Only 1 more final (latin american history in the national period- sooo much information). It's sad packing up my room here and saying goodbye to friends, though I feel like I'll be back in the blink of an eye.

For those unfamiliar with the song, I named my blog after a song we sing at RUF sometimes. Aside from liking the song, I think "let us love and sing and wonder" is appropriate because those are three of my favorite things to do, and things I always think I should do more of. Here is the song, for those who haven't seen it before:

Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
from 1 Cor. 6:11, 20; Rev. 1:5

Let us love and sing and wonder
Let us praise the Savior’s name
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame
He has washed us with His blood (x3)
He has brought us nigh to God

Let us love the Lord Who bought us
Pitied us when enemies
Called us by His grace and taught us
Gave us ears and gave us eyes
He has washed us with His blood (x3)
He presents our souls to God

Let us sing though fierce temptation
Threatens hard to bear us down
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
Holds in view the conqu’ror’s crown
He, Who washed us with His blood, (x3)
Soon will bring us home to God

Let us wonder grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store
When through grace in Christ our trust is
Justice smiles and asks no more
He Who washed us with His blood (x3)
Has secured our way to God

Let us praise and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high
Here they trusted Him before us
Now their praises fill the sky
Thou hast washed us with Thy blood (x3)
Thou art worthy Lamb of God